The former leader of the PSP, Walid Joumblatt. (Credit: AFP)
Druze Leader Walid Joumblatt criticized on Monday that the 1949 Armistice Agreement between Lebanon and Israel was omitted altogether in the framework deal reached between the two countries on Friday.
The 1949 Armistice Agreement, signed on March 23 of that year, was a U.N.-brokered cease-fire deal between Lebanon and Israel following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It established a demarcation line and a peacekeeping framework under the U.N. Truce Supervision Organization.
"As a reminder, the Armistice Agreement is a cornerstone of relations between the Lebanese state and Israel, and it is also an integral part of the Taif Agreement," Joumblatt wrote on X.
"It was mentioned in the presidential oath speech and reaffirmed in the ministerial statement. However, the chief negotiators — along with a close circle of advisers in the Baabda Presidential Palace and a number of specialists in the Grand Serail — chose to overlook it, if not omit it altogether," he regretted.
On Saturday, Joumblatt wrote on his X account: "What is striking about this agreement — tripartite in form but unilateral in content — is the complete sidelining of the 1949 Armistice Agreement."
The framework agreement signed Friday provides, among other measures, for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from two "pilot zones" in occupied southern Lebanon and their handover to the Lebanese Army. However, the agreement does not specify a timeline for Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, and makes the withdrawal contingent to Hezbollah's disarmament.
